I'm just going to be posting the Q&A bits (not the whole reports) from the Stormleader reports here, to have them all in one place. One report per post, in case I eventually need to link here to individual reports (Dragonmount posts have been known to get eaten by Trollocs).

Some things we talk about at dinner: (I didn’t take proper notes but I believe the 4th Age Podcaster of our group was recording it so you can probably hear an edited version there)

1. Brandon refuses to confirm or deny that the One Power was used to kill Asmodean. He also mentions a Slayer scene deleted from the Shadow Rising which would have shown more about Slayer’s powers.

2. If he could pick a nationality from the Wheel of Time world, he’d belong to Malkier because he loves the lost kingdom story. He thinks all the Borderlands are cool, but would definitely NOT be a Saldaean.

3. He says he’d have to consult the notes to make sure, but he believes women can become “wolf-sisters.” We just haven’t seen any.

4. His favorite chapters to write from TGS were the concluding chapter and also chapter 22.

He also repeated things that he’s said elsewhere, like that Robert Jordan left extensive notes, though he does have the power from Harriet to override them for the interests of the story. Robert Jordan especially left a lot of specific notes as to who lived and who died in Tarmon Gaidin [sic], and he wasn’t going to change any of that. So is there going to be a lot of deaths? The answer, of course, is RAFO.

I don’t remember if he said this during dinner or during the signings or both, but he was considering doing the outrigger and prequel novels, but that the decision was ultimately Harriet’s. Jordan left notes for that as well, especially the other prequels. If Brandon writes the other books, it will be after a pause at the end of the series. He definitely doesn’t want it to become ‘the McWheel of Time.’

He also said that the series’ ending puts certain threads in perspective. For example, Morgase, my least favorite character, apparently turns out to be less annoying than she appears. Also, fans will better be able to understand the importance of some of the lesser- liked books, like Crossroads of Twilight.

...

After a fifteen second countdown, the boxes are opened and the books are released. Brandon begins signing, and signing, and signing. Sometimes he takes questions from the live feed. I only heard a couple, but one of them was “which Ajah would he be if he could pick an Ajah” and he answered: Brown. Given his love of the Borderlands, I was expecting Green.

...

Questions during Live Feed

Question: Will Rand eventually be united with his father Tam?Answer: RAFO

Question: Would the True Source beat the True Power?Answer: Okay. My gut instinct is going to say, yes. My gut instinct says yes, but that is not coming from the notes. If I was actually going to have to write it out I would have to go to Charleston and I would have to look in the notes but from what I’ve read I’d say yes. But that is not canon because I’m not remembering specifically, does that make sense? I’ll tell you if it’s canon or it isn’t, but that one is just my instinct.

Question: How extensive were RJ’s notes about Lews Therin?Answer: His notes about Lews Therin, I would say are about middle extensive, comparatively of different things that he has notes on. Les than some, more than others. They were extensive enough that I know enough things you don’t know to make me excited, but not so extensive that you know, you are ever going to see a book about Lews Therin or anything like that.

Question: As a followup question, are the notes about Lews Therin the same notes about the voice of Lews Therin’s?Answer: You know I think that’s enough of a spoiler because there is still confusion or not confusion, wondering from people whether or not Lews Therin is the voice, I mean, of course Semirhage said that it is… Robert Jordan never really made that explicit himself. What I think and what you think may be different and so we’ll just leave it. There are things about this in the book.

Question: What was your reaction when you finished The Gathering Storm?Answer: It was an enormous sigh of relief, followed by a, how shoudl I say it, a curiousity what kinds of screams I would get when people read the last chapter of the book.

Question: When will the book be released in New Zealand and South Africa?Answer: New Zealand and South Africa I think are both part of the World English market which is the UK publishers job to get books shipped there. So it all depends on how quickly the UK publisher gets their edition out and how quickly they can get to shipping them. Austrailia should be very soon, how ever long it takes them, but it’s not going to be a long time because I thought UK was releasing today. Alright? And South Africa should be the same.

Question (Katie): Why did you choose to be so open with your writing process?Answer: It’s because when I was trying to break into this business and learn to be a writer, the whole process seemed opaque to me. And I think that’s because I was doing it before the era of the Internet really hit and now that we have this opportunity I figure I’ll throw it out there and maybe what I’m talking about will really help other writers who are aspiring. And also on the other end of it, it gets a little frustrating waiting for books to come out and you never know what’s going to happen and you never know what’s going on. I figure with the Internet we have such a great opportunity to keep people in the loop to let people know what’s going on. We don’t have to be so shadowed anymore, so I want to make as best use of it as I can.

Question (Katie): If you could choose an Ajah, which Ajah would you choose?Answer: If there were Ajahs for guys, I would definitely be a Brown.

Question: Do you have any books coming out between the next two Wheel of Time books?Answer: I have been working very hard on a book called “The Way of Kings” for about ten years now. It is the beginning of a large epic and I’ve always wanted to write one. I think it’s almost ready. If the revisions work it will come out next fall. I don’t think I will have one the year after that because the Wheel of Time is first priority. So, either between this one and the next one or between “The Towers of Midnight” and “A Memory of Light”.

Question: Since you are Brown Ajah, will we learn more about the 12 (13) Depositories in the White Tower?Answer: They are mentioned in “The Gathering Storm”.

Question (Luke): Has anyone ever had the same ability as Min? And do you know how it is caused or how the ability works?Answer: The ability works quite explicitly from her being able to see glimmers in the Pattern. She is seeing what is being woven in the future and that is how most of the Foretelling powers work. He was actually pretty explicit in the notes about that. Though some of them of course, there are ones that are strict, meaning they see the Pattern, some of them you see how the Pattern might be. She sees the Pattern as it will be. Has anyone ever had it before? Yeah, from what I read it never said it explicitly, but it implied that this is a power that could exist again and has existed before, but there are no lists of anyone that’s had it before. It’s definitely open that somebody could have had it before, but he doesn’t actually say specificially.

Question: How much writing do you think you’ll get done during the Tour?Answer: I bought a brand new Netbook just yesterday…the goal being to do writing on the plane rides and in the car while the driver is driving me around. How much do I think I’ll get done? My goal is to get up to about 90%…I’m not sure if I’ll make that…we’ll see…get to the 90%. What am I at right now? 70? (pause while he signs a book) Okay, let’s not say 90%, I just added that up. Let’s say 80%. Thirty thousand words is going to be tough to get. As I was thinking about that, wait a minute, fifty thousand words is a good month on its own, so if on tour I get half that I’m going to be happy.

Question (Claire): Will we see the Land of Madmen in any of the last books?Answer: RAFO.

Question (Susan): Will you be coming to Canada? Will any previously unknown Black Ajah members be revealed?Answer: I have spoken with my Canadian publisher and they have offered to send me on a tour. We are looking at having me go sometime next summer? I will yes that. Yes there will be Black Ajah members revealed in The Gathering Storm.

Brandon responded that he is not sure, He states that he doesn’t want it to be an eternal series, and suggests being very careful. He will go with whatever is the will of Harriet. Also possible to do outriggers, again depends on Harriet. There is a chance of both, Tom Doherty wants them both, so in the end it will be up to Harriet and BS will go along with whatever she wants and decides on.

2. What are the new chapter symbols?

Harriet names the chapters actually, so she sent over a list of all symbols and chapter, and wanted me to pick out symbols to go with the chapters, BS pushed for new symbols. He wanted a symbol to show the pattern unfurling. So that’s what you get with chapter. Also Brandon chose Perrin’s black smith puzzle for his own symbol on the author page.

3. Which character do you most identify with?

Brandon said that it depends on when he read the series through. When he first started reading he really was identifying with Rand, simply because they were both teenagers, so he naturally connected with how he felt. Then he started feeling for Perrin, slightly more mature, also because of the similarities in personality. This last time he read through the series for TGS, he most identified with Moraine, and Nyneave, because he, as a father in his 30’s, can see the wisdom and guidance that they have to impart, and how better things would be if the boys just did what they were supposed to, unlike when he was younger when he would simply wish that they would stop butting in all the time.

4. How do you keep from being burnt out?

Brandon said that he switches projects continually. He wrote 13 standalone books before he ever got one published, that being Elantris, his 6th novel, “I write compulsively” that’s where Alcatraz came from, he needed a break from Mistborn, and so he stopped for a time and wrote a light YA novel. He would often take a Saturday off in the middle of a project, and write something completely different, something he wasn’t necessarily supposed to.

Here are some fan questions and Brandon’s quotes from during the signing.

“There are a surprising amount of deaths in the notes, so I get to play headsman” -Brandon

Q: If you could kill one character gruesomely (with out regard to plot) who would it be?
A: “Cadsuane” – Brandon

When asked about his favourite part of writing this series in specific: “The Characters feel like old highschool buddies.” – Brandon

On going into Robert Jordan study: “It felt like wondering into davinci’s workshop seeing his unfinished work” picking up RJ’s notes.“ -Brandon

Whats most difficult in the writing process?
“Keeping track of everyone” “I was confused about who was with Perrin, so I ask Charleston for a file with every one of the two river, whose with them, then send over a file of a complete list of two rivers folk with Perrin, most of whom hadn’t even been mentioned, and it had things like they’re names, relations, and most of them what they did in the army.” -Brandon

How do you keep sane? “Writing compulsively. Actually, I’m not sane, I’m a writer” – Brandon

ugh....this one has un-transcribed videos - I thought this was what Stormleaders were for! Anyway...anyone willing to help transcribe these...help would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I won't have time to get to it till after finals, next month (I will edit this post to add the transcripts when they are done).

Edit: I went through these videos forever ago and forgot to edit to say I didn't find anything plot-relevant in them.

I can't seem to find report #5. I tried going to the October News link, the November link, and the 'prior reports' link. October has 1-4, November starts with #8 I think, and the oldest on 'prior reports' is #6. I think #5 was Minneapolis, though, and there is a link here with an untranscribed video. Apparently West Charleston had no Stormleaders in attendance?

Edit: I found the fifth report here. Nothing good in it, and the video was a live stream that is, of course, no longer available.

Brandon was also great at answering questions. He occasionally gave a RAFO answer, but he tried very hard to answer questions if there was any way to do so. Over dinner, I asked him a question about the final scene in The Gathering Storm as it relates to one of Min’s visions from The Eye of the World. Brandon asked me to rephrase my question several times so that he would be able to answer it without saying “RAFO.” Eventually, I came up with a version he felt comfortable answering.

WTF?? Yes, that was all he said...

Also, nothing good from the next one. There are a few things, but nothing that will go in the interview database:
Stormleader report #8:

Other information that we gleaned from dinner included learning that Aviendha is the favorite out of the three in Rand’s “harem.” Hopefully we’ll get to see more of Pevara being awesome, but that could possibly appear in a novella on Brandon’s web page that will fill in some missing holes. But no promises! And one last interesting fact, in order to get the Illianer and Taraboner accents right, he wrote the book then went back and did a search for all the characters of those nations and then worked on their crazy accents.

...

After dinner we trekked over to the Harvard Coop for the signing. Brandon introduced the book. He talked a bit about what the Wheel of Time series means to him, and how he became a writer in the first place. Did you know that he wrote 13 books before getting one of them published? Elantris was number six in that list, but he never gave up on his dream of being a writer. We also heard about how Harriet read Brandon’s eulogy for RJ and subsequent read of Mistborn. After two chapters, she was hooked and knew that he was the man to finish her husband’s series.

...

During the quick Q&A session several interesting questions were tossed Brandon’s way. One curious fan wanted to know what the other books Robert Jordan had planned after the main series was finished. There were going to be two prequels; one about Tam and one about Lan & Moiraine arriving at the Two Rivers. There were also going to be several outrigger novels. Brandon the fan doesn’t want to see the series go on and on, but now that he could be the one to write these books, he also doesn’t want it to turn into “the one ring” so to speak. He’d have to let it go eventually. However, the ultimate decision will be Harriet’s.

...

A question was asked about Robert Jordan’s notes – particularly how they were left. We were told that Harriet has said that Jordan has left more in notes than in the series itself! Brandon then related a story about how he needed to know who was traveling with Perrin. He asked RJ’s assistants to look to see if there was a file with that info. A few days later he received an email titled “traveling with Perrin.” Unfortunately it listed every single person from the Two Rivers and their occupation who was travelling with Perrin. Some hadn’t even appeared in the books!

Some other info that we learned during the Q&A included finding out that the most rewarding part of writing GS for Brandon was working with Harriet. It took 18 months of 14 hour days (although that includes a chunk of Towers of Midnight) to finish the book. The Two Rivers and Andoran characters were the easiest for him to write, while the Aiel and Seanchan were the hardest.

He spoke with obvious and heartfelt passion about Wheel of Time and mission in front of him. I asked him a direct question: Where is Demandred? On whom or on what did the Dark One order him to use balefire in book 6? I answered my own question: Surely he is with the Borderlander Army waiting to use balefire on Rand directly. Rand would be burned out of the Pattern and the Pattern would unravel because it it couldn’t exist without him. The Dark One wins. Brandon went into Aes Sedai mode, refusing to answer my questions by correcting me on my understanding of balefire. Brandon said someone killed by balefire could be reborn and woven back into the Pattern later, but the Dark One cannot resurrect that person. What a cool moment! I wish we could have talked all night.

...

One fan said his favorite character was Padan Fain and ask if we would see more of him. Brandon responded that he could not say, but joked that he may or may not have been writing about him on the train. I laughed and said as I was typing that “Brandon said Padan Fain will be in the next book.” Brandon looked at me with little humor, saying “I did NOT say that.” So let that be a warning to you and to me. I take full responsibility for this media report, I hope I get everything right but anyone can make a mistake or misunderstand something, so reader beware.

...

Brandon talked at length about Mat, saying he is undergoing great changes having just been married which might explain some of his behavior in TGS. He talked about Jordan’s use of time in the series, explaining that Perrin’s storyline is maybe a whole month off the other story-lines. Brandon explained that the True Power can only be used by someone that the Dark One has allowed to use it. The True Power is perhaps more powerful then the One Power in the way a drugged up person is more powerful then someone not drugged up. In the moment the drugged up person may be, but in the long run maybe not. Further explaining the True Power he said the guardian in Far Madding cannot stop it. One fan asked him not to make us wait another book for Moraine rescue. Another asked him, considering how the TGS ends, if he will miss writing in Lews Therin voice, Brandon said probably, but he was not 100% sure that we will not see Lews Therin voice again. Another fan asked if the balefiring of Grendeal could bring back Asmodean, if in fact Graendal was the person who killed him. Brandon essentially said no, because it happened much too long ago. At best balefire burns someone out of the pattern 3 days to a week at the absolute most. But usually more like 5 minutes. Brandon named many of the characters that we did not see in TGS and pointed out the need for three books to wrap the series up.

...

(wow, finally something to put in the interview database, no matter how scant)

This Stormleader hadn't yet finished the book, so she didn't report on the dinner questions having to do with the book.

Q: Regarding the Mistborn books, do you think you will ever write a prequel trilogy?
A: Brandon is hesitant to do so. He has considered it though. He [Brandon] “loves epic fantasy” and the “hero’s journey, like Rand’s journey at the beginning of the Wheel of Time”. When writing the Mistborn books, he knew Robert Jordan had done epic fantasy the best it could be done, so thought to himself, ‘what hasn’t been done?’ The answer he came to was ‘what if the hero [e.g.] Rand/Harry Potter/Frodo lost?’ The idea was a good one, but that would make a “downer of a book”. (The fans, myself included, chuckled slightly horrified at the idea of the Dark One winning, and one fan made a reference to the Star Wars prequels, which also amused the crowd, and Brandon alike.) Brandon went on to say that he wrote Mistborn as 1000 years after the heroes lost, and he is more strongly considering a sequel trilogy that would take place about 600 years after Mistborn.

Q. After Knife of Dreams came out, Robert Jordan had said he was writing two more prequels…will you [Brandon] do them and what’s the status on them now?
A. There are notes for two prequels, one based around Tam’s story, and the other about Moiraine and Lan before they went to the Two Rivers. There are also notes for three additional books, Outriggers, which take place in the Wheel of Time world. Brandon equates being handed the Wheel of Time series with being handed the One Ring – the longer you hold onto it, the harder it gets to let go. He doesn’t want to ruin Robert Jordan’s world; Robert Jordan and the series deserve to be allowed to rest. However, Tom Doherty wants them to be written, though the decision is ultimately up to Harriet – if she decides they should be written, he’ll do it, but his gut says ‘no’, they won’t be. At this, he was met with an “aaawwww!” from the fans, and nodding, he said that it is with a heavy heart but he feels it would be best. The last he heard, Harriet was leaning towards ‘no’. If he does write them though, he feels there should be no more after this, “it would be nice to have a will” so no more can be made. He admitted that this is a half answer, but concluded with “Robert Jordan’s legacy is more important.”

Q. Are you ticked you know the ending? (The fans, Brandon, and all of us Storm Leaders laughed!)
A. “I’m excited.” Brandon, in having Robert Jordan’s notes on the whole series, has even seen the “handwritten note of who killed Asmodean!” [I didn’t know Robert Jordan knew my name!] A moment with a somewhat quizzical look on his face, Brandon went on to say that he does feel a “sense of loss that I didn’t get to read a new Wheel of Time book last week.”

Q. Which character’s point of view is your favorite to write?
A. “Whoever I’m writing at that moment”, they’re the most important. With some characters it was easier than others, as “Cadsuane already believes she’s the most important.” [I think I laughed the loudest at that remark.] He also said that the notes on Egwene were the most extensive and she was a pleasure to write. He also enjoys having more Aviendha viewpoints, as he missed her, and commented that writing Rand is both dramatic and draining.

Q. Has Mesaana’s alter ego been seen yet “on stage”? [I suspect the fan that asked this is one of the Blues I mentioned earlier, though she may be a Brown, too.]
A. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to RAFO [read and find out] that.” Any yes/no would set all the fans, especially on the message boards and fans into figuring it out by process of elimination. The crowd pressed him for hints, and he did confirm that she is still in the White Tower. This statement was met with speculative “oohhh”’s and pensive looks as new theories were born then and there.

Q. Will there be any sequels to Elantris?
A. In 2015, the 10th anniversary of the series he intends to release Dragonriders, three books based on side characters. They will take place 10 years after events, in the city of Dacor.

Q. Will we see anywhere in the world a visual representation of The Wheel of Time?
A. A video game is pretty likely. The executive option was bought for full rights as well, and screen plays are being written. Jason Denzel and Maria are consulting. If the films get made, they will be full feature films. There are also comic books put out by the Debel brothers that are accurate, but they may not continue – the Debel brothers have “visual genius and financial troubles.” [We raffled off three of the comic books to excited fans!]

Additional Q&As:
* Several fans asked whether there would be a sequel to Warbreaker. Brandon said it was planned as two books, and Nightblood will be released after the Wheel of Time
* “So…Memory of Light was supposed to be book 12 and the last book…will you split them up again?” Brandon, to the wide smiles of all who heard, said definitively “Fourteen is it!”
* Q. Do you have new stuff, or new ideas? A. Yes – one is “The Silence Divine” a world like ours where you gain magic by diseases; another is a world where the only superheroes are all evil super villains and a group of regular people called The Executioners gather to hunt them down and take them out.
* Q. Which character did you perceive yourself as? A. Perrin. Quiet, a little bigger than my friends… “I always felt a lot like Perrin.” Eventually, his favorite shifted to Mat.
* Q. Do you have plans to write a longer series? A. Yes, The Way of Kings will come out next year.
* Q. There’s a lot of female influence in The Wheel of Time, was it hard to write from their perspective? A. In my early years writing, it was hard. I finally got it right in Elantris. It was harder to write from other cultures, especially Aviendha and Tuon. It took three tries to get Aviendha right…”Aiel are weird.”
* Brandon describes Mat dealing with Tuon leaving as Mat having his feet knocked out from under him” and says that in Robert Jordan’s notes it says specifically that “Mat refuses to be coming husbandly”.
Generally interesting notes and antidotes:
* Two fans in a row met Brandon this past year at JordanCon
* When Brandon signed any of the Alcatraz books for new young fans, he’d write something in them then tell the child conspiratorially “that will make sense once you read the book”.
* Robert Jordan’s signature on the title page is there at Brandon’s request.
* I enjoyed one fan’s request to have his book addressed to himself as “The Old Wolf”.
* One fan, a woman, has been reading the Wheel of Time from when her son was in diapers. He’s of drinking age now!
* Even Brandon had moments of “Aaaah! I knew it!” He also has had the “wait, really?” moments and often, while going through notes, has said, “Ah, that group is right!” [Referring to groups on the message boards.] He also confided that there is one thing that isn’t being discussed on any of the forums yet that will blow our minds when we read it. Yay!
* Brandon recommends his favorite books as a kid, Three Investigators to a young reader
* Brandon relates Tam to Bilbo and Rand to Frodo
* Robert Jordan never really intended to clarify on whether Rand is hearing Lews Therin because he’s insane or if he’s really there.
* Brandon finished The Dresden Files on the plane this morning.
* Brandon recommends the Peter Rothfus’ trilogy; the first book is Name of the Wind.
* If you’re trying to get Brandon to make an appearance at your event, contact to Peter@BrandonSanderson.com
* While Brandon likes all the characters, he said that even he got annoyed at Faile while she was traveling with Perrin through the Ways. He did assure us that he does like her though!
* Quite a few fans commented how much they appreciate how Brandon has replied to their emails.
* Secretively, Brandon wrote who killed Asmodean on someone’s Kindle. Later he revealed the answer to the Storm Leaders, and at the risk of giving away too much, I’m willing to tell you. Ready? It was………………………ROBERT JORDAN!
* Brandon likes having single volume epics out because he remembers being annoyed at having to wait on even though he didn’t like the author, but just to get to the ending.
* Geoff, his wife, and his young son Luke drove seven hours from Ottawa, Canada to get their books signed
Brandon’s advice to writers:
* Network. Go to where the editors are, learn names. He describes himself as gregarious.
* Write compulsively. Be able to send things out constantly, not every editor will like everything you write.
* His advice isn’t a “silver bullet” of getting published, but he says to “keep at it.”

Tam already posted this in another thread (with more, I think), but just to have the Stormleader reports all in one place, I'll put it here. And despite the fact that the report was submitted by someone else, I'll credit Tam, since he did the transcript and asked most of the questions.

Matt- Question: Did Robert Jordan leave a power to time comparison, as to how much time is burned back on a thread using balefire. Is there a calculation that says x amount of power will burn back x amount of time on a thread?

Brandon: M.A.F.O – Maria and Find Out. What he did leave, he left a lot of stuff, there is discussion of these things in the notes. I need to look and see if there is an actual equation. He was very focused on strength of the power and things like that. He has probably told you before, I think I’ve seen a copy of that on notes and things. He did leave scales on exactly how powerful each person is…

Matt – Question: The Choedan Kal, does it amplify your power? Is it a limited, for example, if I have a certain amount of power does it give me 10x what I have, or is it a certain amount of power I can access?

Brandon: One of the things I’ve been doing when I answer questions is that I’ve been saying that this is my understanding and putting an asterisk at the bottom that is a – I am speaking from my understanding and not from specific knowledge from the notes, meaning yes I am probably right but these are the questions I could be wrong on…this one my understanding is that it is a reservoir of power. It is not necessarily a magnification. A very weak person with a very powerful sa’angreal is very powerful. I’m pretty sure on that one, but I will add the asterisk just in case. If you send me an email, I can go back and look to make sure. But I’m reasonably sure on that one, the reasons being things that are talked about in the notes mixed with the way angreal and sa’angreal worked previously in the books mixed with two specific things that he talked about in the notes when people using an’greal and sa’angreal after they become very weak or after they are weak.

Matt – Question: We know that in the Age of Legends that the Forsaken/Chosen, everyone agreed to stop using Balefire because of its effects on the Pattern. Is it unrealistic then to say that a great amount of power could burn someone’s thread back a year or six months. Is that an unrealistic thing to say that there is enough power available to either one or multiple people to burn somebody back that far?

Brandon: I see what you are getting at you are trying to figure out if Graendal was killed with a whole lot of balefire would it bring Asmodean back to life (Brandon had heard about this idea, which he mentions later).

Matt: …like that could ever happen…

Brandon: That’s what you are digging for isn’t you?
Matt: Let’s say, if a Forsaken was responsible for killing another Forsaken.

Brandon: Uh huh

Matt: And said Forsaken was balefired….

Brandon: You are under the assumption…You are trying to figure out who killed Asmodean again. That’s what you are trying to do and I’m not going to get caught and let you know…

Matt: It’s a legit question…and I’m sure whatever is said at this table stays at this table…

Brandon: I’m sure, the leader of Theoryland and the guy taping this…

~Much laughter from table~

Brandon: Let’s divorce it. Rand balefires Rahvin as hardcore as he could and Rand is one of the most powerful people to live and he got us, what have you determined, from the lightning killing Mat until balefire killed Rahvin, I’d guess fifteen minutes.

Matt: Well, he at least got us fifteen minutes. We don’t know how far back, we just know up to that moment.

Brandon: Well, we do know because if it had been too much further than that we would have noticed a lot of discrepancies in the Pattern from things he’d done…

Matt: Let’s say thirty minutes to an hour, at the most.

Brandon: Alright, thirty minutes to an hour. Okay, let’s say the Choedan Kal amplifies his abilities 100 fold…let’s say it’s a 100 times more powerful than Rand. That’s giving us, lets say he got an hour, we’ve got four days, from the most powerful, one of the most powerful sa’angreal ever created. I think it is unrealistic to assume you can get back a year, but that’s not saying it is impossible. I think that if you did that to the Pattern the ramifications would be so dramatic you’d see the Pattern unraveling hardcore at that point, it’s like balefiring an entire city. When I first read that guess I just laughed, I’m like guys c’mon lets run the math on this.

Matt: Like I said to Jennifer, it is my job at Theoryland to entertain these ideas.

Brandon: Yes it is, it is your job to entertain them. But in the terms of Mythbusters let’s go ahead and call that one “Busted” in the realistic world. I’ve got to give you at least something, so I’ll at least give you that…If it were possible to do things like that, we’d have the Dark One just going and balefiring you know Tam so Rand never gets picked up off the mountain….

At that point, we realized it was useless to torture the author with trickery, as he has learned from the best Aes Sedai ways to the “skirt the truth” shall we say? Hehehe. In all seriousness, Brandon was great. My foreboding question “When is the most beautiful, talented, baddest, awesomest, most fantastical of characters coming back…. ??” Meaning, Moiraine (may she live forever) of course! Which I was quickly RAFO-ed by Brandon right back into eating my sorrows away on my dessert.

One fan seemed underwhelmed with the Seanchan raid against the White Tower and asked if it had originally been intended as a truly epic battle. Sanderson said that it was always intended to be a raid.

When asked about Rand’s new sword, Brandon acknowledged that most people assume it is Artur Hawkwing’s and that Rand had last seen it at Falme in The Great Hunt. Brandon did not outright declare this to be true, but he did agree that the logic makes sense.
Brandon, who is of the Latter Day Saints faith, was asked how he keeps his theology out of his books. He answers that a writer should not ram his ideology down the reader’s throats. A good writer, he says, should present multiple perspectives and beliefs through his characters writing all arguments with equal strength, lest they carry less weight. He then says that Robert Jordan was once quoted saying “I love when my books ask questions, I do not want to give answers.” Another visitor also comments on Brandon’s faith, praising that he’s one of the only LDS authors he’s read where you can’t tell his faith through his writing.

A fan that asked Harriet if she considered any other author to finish the “Wheel of Time” received the answer he expected in that she had, but would not name the other candidates. She went on to say that Brandon was an easy choice.

A question about Mat’s behavior in TGS prompted Brandon to reveal that Jordan’s notes had clearly stated “Mat insists he will not be husbandly” and Mat is struggling with trying to return to his old self while dealing with the new stresses of love and marriage.

I asked Brandon which WoT websites he peeked at. He said that he tries not to go to them for fear of being drawn into discussions. He said that if he goes anywhere, it’s usually Dragonmount. To Matt of Theorland who said to say “Hi”, Brandon says “RAFO”. When I asked him about my old home of wotmania, he said that he had been there and they seemed to like to argue a lot. I had to concede that.

This is perhaps old hat by now, but Brandon has coined new term MAFO referring to Maria, one of the fact handlers behind Wheel of Time. She sometimes wears a RAFO hat and tips it for Brandon when he can’t give someone an answer.

Brandon’s introduction to Fantasy came by way of three female authors: Barbara Hambly, Anne McCaffrey, and I missed the third (sorry).

Brandon said there would be a sequel trilogy to Mistborn and also a short story spin-off that would likely be posted online.

Harriet indicated that the Bloodwrasps mentioned in TGS is not a typo of Bloodwasps and is a new thing we haven’t seen yet.

Brandon says of the five Redarms that enter Hinderstap with Mat that the three that seem unaccounted for when everyone else escapes are not “forgotten” and their circumstances are RAFO. He also said that he appreciates the finding of continuity errors so that they can be corrected before books go to paperback, but they are an unavoidable part of the business. He doesn’t like when authors ignore continuity on purpose, but understands accidents.

Brandon hinted at some severe limitations on Shaidar Haran to affect the physical world. He says that a lot of actions that people assume to be those of Shaidar Haran in the book in one particular scene were physically carried out by Elza. He further indicated that Shadar Haran would have been incapable of physically placing the collar himself.

Brandon admitted there would be overlapping chronology between The Gathering Storm and The Towers of Midnight and that Graendal’s name will be mentioned a few times.

Brandon said the progress of book completion is sometimes edited down and then up depending on the subtraction or addition of submitted content.

Jordan’s outline for WoT’s conclusion was about 2500 pages.

Brandon is a fan of Jerry Garcia ties.

Jordan was intentionally vague about the issue of Rand and Lews Therin’s one soul and what part madness played in the two identities.

Brandon’s pregnant wife is due in late Jan / early Feb.

When it comes to Asmodean’s death or possibility of rebirth or potential killers, Brandon seems oddly obsessed with balefire being the means of death when discussing talking points.

Q: What’s the status of the WoT movie?
A: Universal has bought the rights for it, and they’re in the process of writing a script. Maria is the official contact point for making sure they get the details right. Brandon is plenty busy writing, so he hasn’t been involved.

Q: Is there a WoT MMORPG coming out?
A: Red Eagle has the right to create WoT video games, and they’re working on some.

Q: Were you surprised when you found out who killed Asmodean?
A: Brandon had been a fan for a long time before he got to find out who killed Asmodean. He said that he had heard arguments for every possible suspect, including the really crazy ones like Tam. So when he found out the real answer, he wasn’t shocked. His reaction was more “Oh, those guys were right”. He said that the clues are there, but he never would have figured it out himself.

Q: Was Taim turned by a circle of thirteen?
A: RAFO. I will say that he was never a very nice guy.

Q: Slayer made a gateway in Far Madding when he tried to kill Rand and Min. Does this mean he uses the True Power to make his gateways?
A: Slayer does not channel. His powers come from somewhere other than the Source. Slayer is not affected by the Guardian in much the same way that Perrin wouldn’t be.

The change in Mat’s personality that many of us noticed in TGS was deliberate. He’s reacting to being married, which was the last thing he thought would happen to him. RJ’s notes said specifically that “Mat refuses to become husbandly”, and he’s doing that by trying to go back how he was in TDR. This is part of where the silliness with the backstories comes from – he knows that he was less serious and more of a joker at the time, but can’t really get back to how he was then.

When he was writing Talmanes, Maria mentioned that Talmanes doesn’t usually mock Mat in the earlier books. Brandon said that he has always read Talmanes that way, and that’s what he finds so funny about it – Mat doesn’t realize he’s being teased.

Q: Do the Seanchan consider the raid on the White Tower a success?
A: Yes, they consider it a success, but they’re disappointed that they didn’t get their hands on the Aes Sedai superweapon.

Q: Will Moiraine be rescued in the next book?
A: You’re assuming that Moiraine will be rescued.

Q: Will Moiraine’s rescue attempt be in the next book?
A: You’re assuming that Thom and Mat will attempt to rescue Moiraine. (I’ll tell you, he’s as bad as an Aes Sedai.)

Q: What will be the focus of the next book?
A: This book really needed to focus on Egwene and Rand, and get their stories moving. There was also a nice contrast between their arcs in this book, with Egwene’s going upwards and Rand’s downward. The next book will be much broader in scope – we need to see what’s going on with a lot of different parts of the story. There will be a lot more Mat and Perrin than in this one. I suppose you could say that if there was going to be a rescue attempt, the logic place to put it would be in a book with a lot of Mat .

Q: Will we see what’s going on at the Black Tower?
A: We’ll see whether that fits in or not.

Q: Will Fain be in the next book?
A: Padan Fain will be seen again. He’s a mixture of two things – Mordeth’s power, which he got by seeking out all of the evil things that weren’t related to the Shadow, and the Dark One’s Hound. Brandon said that Fain’s number one goal is to kill Rand, and a close second is to kill the Dark One. Now that Shadar Logoth has been destroyed, all of the Mordeth power that remains in the world is in Fain.

Q: It’s pretty clear now that Moridin and Rand are linked because of the balefire incident. Since Rand used saidin to create the balefire, and now he gets sick when channeling saidin, does that mean Moridin gets sick when he tries to use the True Power?
A: You’re assuming that Rand’s channeling sickness comes from crossing the streams.

Q: After Rand has channeled the True Power, he has a dark cloud around him. When he meets with Tuon after this, she manages to resist his ta’veren pull. Is this because the True Power has reduced his ta’veren mojo?
A: The reason she manages to resist is that she has a lot of willpower. Rand is just as ta’veren as ever.

Q: How about the food going bad in Bandar Eban? Was that caused by Rand being nearby with his cloud of evil?
A: We’ve heard earlier in the books that the Dragon is one with the land, and the land is one with the Dragon. This is an old belief – many kingdoms believed that the wellness of the King was directly tied to the wellness of the land. In WoT, this is quite literally true.

Q: In Falme we saw Rand fighting Ishamael and the Heroes of the Horn and the Seanchan were mirroring the progress of the battle. Does this mean that there is something inherently evil about the Seanchan Empire?
A: Nobody in WoT is inherently evil, except for Shadowspawn. At the time, the Seanchan were being led by a Darkfriend.

Q: Was the Domination Band made of cuendillar?
A: The original one is made of cuendillar. The one that was destroyed was a copy, but one would assume that the copies are made of cuendillar too. The True Power works by destroying the Pattern. Everything that is done with it involves damage to the Pattern. For example, when we see Ishamael Travel, he does so by poking a hole in the Pattern. Cuendillar can be destroyed using the True Power. There is another way to destroy cuendillar, too.

Q: Is Mesaana still in the Tower?
A: Egwene makes some deductions about this at the end of the book. Egwene is not incorrect.

Q: She could swear that she’s not a Darkfriend on the Oath Rod, right?
A: As long as she believed it to be true. Every remaining Aes Sedai in the Tower has retaken the three oaths. You should be thinking about ways to defeat the Oath Rod. There is a way to do it.

Q: At the darkfriend social, Carridin is given orders by Ishamael that he can’t remember. Later on in Ebou Dar, he sees Mat out the window and he sort of goes into a trance, sees more imagery, and when he snaps out of it, time is stopped and Sammael is in the room. How did this happen? Was Sammael paged somehow when Carridin’s orders were triggered?
A: MAFO – Maria and find out. This means he will answer the question, but he wants to check with Maria first to make sure he has the details straight.

Q: After Moiraine uses balefire on the Darkhounds in TDR, she says something about how she’s much more dangerous now than when she met Perrin in Emond’s Field. How did she become more dangerous?
A: There are a couple of ways she might mean that she has become more dangerous. Think about this – when she went to Emond’s Field, she thought Rand was the Dragon. Now she knows that he’s the Dragon. That in itself, combined with the fact that she’s Blue makes her much more dangerous.

1- Q: “Who killed Asmo?”
Brandon- Harriet you want to do the honors?
Harriet- You want to live?
Brandon- We have our first RAFO of the night. I know, Harriet knows, and he told us to put it in the book somewhere.

2- Q: Were you a part of any of the WT online communities?
a. Usenet for RJ my first day on the internet. I was a member of DM and Wotmania, but never posted. He’d go to DM to check blogs. He’d drop by WoTmania, but they were kinda mean (aggressive about their viewpoints.)

3- Q: Why a pseudonym? Why not his real name?” (Harriet- and why?)
a. A: Harriet – He wanted to write everything there was when he was beginning. In the first place, he said he wanted to save his real name for his history of SC. Then his Vietnam novel.
b. A: Harriet – In youth he loved Louis L’amour’s westerns. He bought a new Louis L’amour book one time and when he read it, it wasn’t a western, it was a mystery! So, he thought he’d have a name for every genre to keep this from happening to his fans. “Robert Jordan” had nothing to do with For Whom the Bell Tolls.
c. Reference to a post from DM’er: The post was from a woman who started reading the series 12 years ago. She had small children, not enough money for drugs or alcohol. A friend gave her The Eye of the World. And it worked! Now her son is reading them and when he picked up the Gathering Storm answered the question of why he didn’t use his own name: “Why of course he did! He’s a superhero! You don’t think Batman’s real name is Batman, do you?”

4- I can’t tell you the question, but I think the answer was insightful, so I’m editing out the spoilers to give you this:
i. You’ll notice that the prologues fulfill a purpose. Most of the prologues are written like epilogue to the book before. [This Prologue]was more of an epilogue to the [end of] Knife of Dreams. Brandon believes that RJ liked giving his fans something to talk about and then answer it in the prologue of the next book. Brandon “I can’t speak for what Robert Jordan was thinking.”
ii. To which Harriet responded, “Even Robert Jordan couldn’t speak for what Robert Jordan was thinking.”

5- Q: How’s The Towers of Midnight coming?
a. ToM is 70% done.
b. Harriet’s answer: “ If I can quote Robert Jordan, I can assure you without fear of contradiction, that ToM will be on the shelves very shortly after Brandon finishes writing it.”
c. “This is a very, very… there’s a lot of work involved. People assume that when I was given the outline, I was given a point by point outline. RJ wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t show it to Harriet until he’d done 12 drafts. We got this in a state of incompleteness. The creative process isn’t as neat and orderly. Things were in dozens of files. “
Harriet: Brandon would say “what order do you want it in?” and I would say “Brandon, you’re the writer. It’s foolish for the editor to take over the part of the writer. And vice-versa.”
d. He dictated some and the assistants transferred it into notes, scoured their memory for anything he’d said and put that in the notes. And then all the files… “this was all handed to me and told ‘ok, let’s write a book.’”

6- Q: Was it difficult for you to find any of the character’s voice?
a. Answer: Brandon: Aviendha- the Aiel way of thinking is so different and I think like a Two River’s folker. It was easy to write the Two Rivers. And when I started writing Aviendha, I was writing like a Two Rivers-er.

7- Q: I am struck by how alike this is to Tolkien. Have you ever talked to Chris Tolkien (since he took over for his father using his notes)?
A: Brandon’s responses:
i. No, but I’d like to.
ii. We’re in a little better shape. Jim actually finished scenes. We have a lot more to work with. He wrote the end himself! He left landmarks to follow from here to the end. Not specific details, just “strong stuff” to get us to the end.
iii. “There are no characters that we don’t know how they end up.”

Some other little tidbits you might be interested in:
*Aviendha is Brandon’s favorite female of the series.
*Brandon’s favorite color is maroon. Green shirt says so!
*He’s planning another stand alone story about a world where virus and germs have evolved and possess magic powers. So if you catch a cold you can fly, when you get over it, you can’t anymore.
*He really likes carrot cake, and he likes Key Lime Pie, too. ‘And you know, a good brownie, with ice cream and… that’s really good, too.”
*For NaNo, he participated for 4 years, but couldn’t “win” since he never wrote anything FOR NaNo. He just continued with what he was already writing. It usually came out to another 70 or 80 thousand words, though!

I also have gone through and added from this thread on Dragonmount, up to post #145 (my post, the last one in the thread at the moment).

That's it for now - I will try to keep up with these as they come in. Good news is that nearly every interview database category has BS quotes in it now. The only categories that don't (out of 43 categories) are:

The Age of Legends (might be able to cross-reference something here)
Berelain
Faile (I think he said something trivial about her - I should go back and add it)
Galad
Lan
Ogier
The Old Tongue (should add the trivia about this)
Pronunciation
RAFO (should add the MAFO definition to this)
Tam & Kari

After the signing, Harriet retired to the hotel, and the Storm Leaders went with Brandon to Cantina Laredo (Thanks Tor!). We talked a lot about balefire philosophy, and Brandon said he always wanted to know what would happen if you ‘shot yourself in the foot’ with balefire. He also spoke about some of his ideas for other books. One that he plans to write after the Wheel of Time is finished is about a world where super powers are transferred by disease and terrorists use penicillin as a weapon. We also talked about a lot of topics that would be spoilers for TGS, so you can find them on Dragonmount’s spoiler forum under ‘signing questions & answers’. Below, I’ve included the Q&A that happened at the bookstore:

Q: What was the most difficult part of writing TGS?
A: (Brandon) Keeping track of everyone, due to the exhaustive detail of the books. Brandon used Encyclopaedia WoT often. It was also difficult to make the character ‘voices’ correct. Aviendha and Tuon were the most difficult of these, because they are from different cultures.

Q: What medieval Arthurian texts were in RJ’s library?
A: Harriet didn’t remember anything specifically Arthurian, but there were a lot of books on mythology, religion, Asimov’s guide to the bible, Norse, Greek, Cheyenne Indian. RJ wrote about the Cheyenne under the name Jackson O’Reilly. The Aiel are based on the Cheyenne.

Q: Is there any history to the term ‘blood and bloody ashes’?
A: (Harriet) No

Q: Does RJ work out things like conservation laws, since he was a physicist?
A: (Brandon) From what I’ve seen, he considered it, the power that is doing all these things is coming from somewhere. They discovered the dark one by finding the power (true power). (They are) not aware of the source of the one power. The law of conservation of energy works, it’s coming from somewhere, we’re not sure where. It’s not something the characters were considering, so it wasn’t appropriate to include in the books.

Q: Are all the different cultural prophecies from a common source, and is it evil?
A: (Brandon) It’s not that simple.

Q: Who killed Asmodean?
A: (Harriet) We could tell them, but I think they want to live.

Q: Why do you write?
A: (Brandon) “If I didn’t I would go crazy.” He wrote 13 novels before he sold one (Elantris). He would write a book every year even if he didn’t do this for a living.

Q: (Our first question was the obligatory) “Who killed Asmodean?”
A: The answer will be in one of these three books.

Q: What character is easiest for you to write? Which is most difficult?
The Two Rivers folk were the easiest (Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve). Aviendha was the most difficult. She thinks more like an Aiel than most Aiel. But he was glad to bring her back to the forefront because he had always liked the way she thought. Tuon was not easy either.

Q: Is there a connection between the spoilage of food and Rand’s temperament?
A: Look at the Fisher King prophecies, and the prophecies in WoT that mention that the “land and the Dragon are one.”

Q: What is your favorite scene that you got to add?
A: I’m not saying which scenes I added and which parts are Jordan’s until all three books are out. He has lots and lots of notes left by Robert Jordan, which aren’t organized. No one really knew how Robert Jordan was organizing his work. Some files had only sentences, some whole paragraphs and whole scenes. His assistants, Maria and others, what Brandon calls “his own personal Brown Ajah” started asking Robert Jordan questions about all of the chacters, where they would end up and how they got there. So Brandon has so much information all jumbled together without any order. And its his job to take all that and make a book.

Q: What myth’s influences Robert Jordan the most?
A: Native American and Norse mythology are featured prominently, but there are obvious influences from the Fisher King and Grail legends. Brandon also mentioned that Odin and Loki were thought to have originally been one person in the early myths, but was split into two. He noted that Odin had a spear and that Loki was pictured with Ravens. Also, Brandon would sometimes ask Harriet about a particular passage and ask where Jordan got his inspiration. Harriet would pull out a book of myth, turn to a page and point it out.

Q: What is Robert Jordan’s office like?
A: He worked on the first floor of a carriage house, the first room was a big library and the second was like a “wizards workshop.” The Brown Aes Sedai whose quarters he describes in The Gathering Storm, with skeletons everywhere, was basically a description of Robert Jordan’s office. He had skeletons everywhere, and weapons (though the weapons were left out of the Aes Sedai’s room).

Q: Was the passage about Cadsuane spanking Semirhage already written, or was there just information in the notes. How did you feel about writing that section?
A: He was given creative freedom to do what was needed. No author can ever stick 100% to an outline, things change as they are being written, and he was given that kind of control in order to make the books work. Regarding that passage in particular, it made Brandon Sanderson cringe, but Robert Jordan wanted it in the books so it stayed.

Q: When are books 13 and 14 due out?
A: He is three-fourths of the way through Towers of Midnight, and he expects to turn that in in January. He hasn’t been able to write as much as he had hoped during this 26 city tour, so that is putting him back a bit, but he is still confident he can get it in close to on time. It took him 16 months to write The Gathering Storm, and some of that writing ended up being allocated to Towers of Midnight. He expects it to be published in the fall of 2010, or at the latest March of 2011.

Q: Did the ending of the Wheel of Time shock you?
A: No, it “satisfied me.” There were “shocking thing in the notes, such as ‘Egwene’s unexpected visitor’” but on the whole the ending was satisfying.”

Q: Were you surprised to learn who Asmodean’s killer was?
A: No, not really. He had read every theory out there, and there is basically a theory for every character. One of those theories is right (he wont say which of course!), so since he had already read the theory it wasn’t a surprise just a “ah, so it was that person.”

Q: When will we see Way of Kings?
A: I’ll be posting more about it in 2010, this year is for WoT. He expects it to be available around September 2010.

- Which Ajah heads will stay in power? It will be dealt with traditional Aes Sedai quietness and generally default to those who were heads before the split.
- There are no tinker prophecies… as we would have seen them already if there were.
- The Dragon on RJ and Harriet’s gate was commissioned after the series began.
- We will most probably not be seeing any actual dragons in the series – the naming of Aludra’s cannons is not because of the shared fire breathing, but simply a general association with power.
- When asked about Harine, Brandon confirmed that Rand was not sticking to the bargain.
- It was mentioned that a fight between Eugene and Cadsuanne would be totally awesome. I concur.
- Brandon initially got hooked for the series because of the hero’s journey – and the size of the books (he was on a budget). It changed as he grew up, and he mentions how much he enjoyed the prologue by contrasting it with generic fantasy prologues that are long and drawn out. What kept him reading was the depth of world building and the secrets embedded within secrets.
- Brandon apparently likes writing so much he would continue putting out a book a year even if they went unpublished. He never even submitted his first five books and jokingly referred to them as sub par.
- He avoids bad reviews like the plague, but when he does stumble across them he then proceeds to read one star reviews of great works of literature, like Shakespeare.
- Writing the Gathering Storm, Brandon admits he received input from numerous sources. He was, however, uncomfortable discussing the amount of input and the amount of freedom he had in writing The Gathering Storm. He says maybe after A Memory of Light he will reveal a bit more about what specifically was RJ’s. Generally though, he was unrestricted in his writing, and Harriet, as editor, was there to perfect what he had done.
- When asked about the outriggers, Harriet responded with the famous line from Kenny Rogers: “Know when to hold-em, know when to fold-em.” It is something they will get into once the A Memory of Light is in the bag, but the tone of their replies seemed to suggest that is was not even close to a done deal.
- Rand and Egwene are in the same time zone, approximately, at the end of tGS.
- Tuon’s scene was 3-4 weeks after her last scene in the previous book. RJ was “crafty” with his use of timelines, but generally they were chronological within a viewpoint.
- When asked if the timeline will ever be published, Brandon referred to a couple admirable efforts by fans, and Maria added that she tracks it with an Excel spreadsheet, but it would take a lot of effort to get it into a publishable format. Also, RJ was uncomfortable showing anyone his unpublished work and would go through a number of drafts, even if it was just for Harriet.
- When asked about the number of years between the breaking and current day Brandon replied that it was well know and referred us to ewot, which is accurate except for a year here or there.
- Regarding the notorious clue that everyone has missed, Brandon pinned it down to somewhere between books 4-6 (reread time!). He reiterated how astonished we would be when we found it… but won’t get any more specific for fear of ruining our surprise. Also, the “never mentioned” aspect of the clue might not be entirely true, but Brandon himself has never come across it. Maria had a knowing smile at the time, suggesting maybe it has been mentioned. Time will tell.
- Brandon confirmed that the wolf dream / fortelling of Rand as a beggar and the one with bandages over his eyes is fulfilled with his visit to Ebou Dar.
- Brandon reiterate how satisfied he was with RJ’s ending to the series but danced around the question of what he imagined the ending to be before he read it. RJ’s ending “satisfied the promise of the books”.
- When the Internet was in its infancy, Brandon (before ever even using email) went to rec.arts.rj. It was the first site he ever visited online.
- RJ was surprised by the devoted fans of the WoT and always felt a bit egotistical when doing readings—hence his use of a pseudonym and bring “low profile”.

The Q&A that followed was filled with interesting tidbits from both Brandon’s work and the WoT series. More bullet points!
- When asked to briefly describe The Way of Kings (Brandon’s forthcoming epic fantasy series) he said he is not good at short descriptions. Harriet humorously interjected that is precisely the reason that he was hired. He went on for a bit about the Way of Kings (WoK?!). What sets it apart from other epic fantasy, which is done in a setting where magic is in decline and the world has lost much of the splendor it once held, is that WoK is about a “renaissance of magic”.
- Harriet commented that she browses fan boards sometimes and that she had looked at people saying: this part is Brandon and this part is RJ. She laughed and said that most of the time they were totally wrong.
- When asked if his religion played a part in his books, Brandon replied that it was a part of him, and that as a consequence it did.
- When asked if he knows who killed Asmodean, he replied, “Yes, I do.”
- When asked why Justice (AH’s sword) was introduced at this point in the series, Brandon refused to answer, saying it was not even certain that Justice had been introduced, and thus he could not say either way without spoilering.

I was quite annoyed that it was stated on Dragonmount that it was indeed Justice and then no real mention of it being Justice occurred in the book. I don't like it when crap like that happens. Yes, it MAY be Justice but it isn't. Dont state it as fact if it isn't. A major FAIL to the DM Moderator that did so.

__________________Bonded to Brita

"We caught them in an alley on skid row in downtown Philly and brought them down with Uzi's and dogs. I beat the shit out of one of the guys for resisting arrest. After that, I went home, fried up some tofu with strawberry preserves and melon sticky rice, laid down on the couch with my snuggie and ate rose petals in sweet daisy wine sauce and watched Mamma Mia on DVD and then cried myself to sleep."